Rhythmic gymnastics is the girliest sport at the Olympic Games. I don’t mean
that in any pejorative sense. Why should all sport be macho? The sport is
incredibly skilful and, quite often, calculatedly sexy.

It is, if I may say so kindly, gymnastics with the heat off. (This observation
may provoke violent assault from my colleague Gabby Logan, who was eighth in
the rhythmic gymnasts competition when competing for Wales at the
Commonwealth Games in Auckland in 1990.) But it is true — a rhythmic gymnast
is in no danger of falling and breaking her neck. The sport is based on